Unfolding the Future
Raising emotionally intelligent kids who won't start wars
“Everyone who terrifies you is sixty-five percent water. And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes you cannot even breathe deeply, and the night sky is no home, and you have cried yourself to sleep enough times that you are down to your last two percent, but nothing is infinite, not even loss. You are made of the sea and the stars, and one day you are going to find yourself again.” - Finn Butler
Today, Facebook sent me a “memory.” It was a copy of the post I wrote two years ago about the launch of Song Flight, the global initiative I began in 2022 shortly after more than 1.9 million children were displaced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Song Flight is based on the creative tools I developed and have been using over the past 15 years for my children’s media property - CritterKin.
CritterKin uses the stories of eight goofy, mixed-breed dogs to help kids develop social-emotional and core literacy skills (see https://www.dreamingwideawake.org/critterkin). The goal of both CritterKin and Song Flight is to help kids become kind, creative, self-aware adults who will work collaboratively on solving the world’s challenges.
The post Facebook was reminding me about marked the launch of the Song Flight pilot in February of 2022. The pilot included a group of 20 Ukrainian kids (ages 6 to 10) who were attending the Josyf Cardinal Slipyj Catholic School in Toronto, Canada. The video below showcases our last class together.
All of the above was to say that I’m considering offering both CritterKin and Song Flight programs again. If you or your school are looking for ways to help students develop both EQ and core literacy skills, please reach out. I’d love to have a chat.
I can be reach via chat here on Substack or via email at JenaBall@CritterKin.com
Resources
Song Flight Substack: Includes press releases, links to Song Flight in media, the music album, information about the musicians who took part in the live shows, AND the Song Flight theme song, “A World Full of Music” recorded in Ukrainian by the "Inspiration" Ukrainian children’s choir in Odessa, Ukraine (they ARE magic).
Song Flight Videos
Kids page on the Dreaming Wide Awake website: Includes the story of how I got interested in EQ
CritterKin page on the Dreaming Wide Awake website
Song Flight page on the Dreaming Wide Awake website
Copyright 2024 by Jena Ball. All Rights Reserved.
